Muted Magic
by WhatNames
Summary: When an intruder infiltrates the castle and steals the queen's icy powers, the princess of Arendelle takes it upon herself to figure out who the thief was and where he went. However, when she tracks him down, the situation is far more complicated than she had anticipated. Anna needs to unravel the mysteries surrounding the thief, or he'll have to live with his icy mistake forever.
1. Castle Panic

_Chapter One – Castle Panic_

The night was tranquil and serene. The sounds of the fjord - waves lapping up the docks and boats gently floating - drifted up into the houses, lulling the town to sleep. This was normal for Arendelle. Since the Queen's Coronation and the harrowing events that followed, the kingdom had mainly kept to itself. The people were content to continue working and the royal family had simply enjoyed their newfound peace. Queen Elsa had found peace with her family, her powers, and herself. Princess Anna couldn't be happier to have all the time to spend with her sister and her boyfriend, Kristoff. No one would have thought that during this time of peace, someone had other plans.

* * *

On the streets, one could clearly see the gates of the castle, and well beyond them. The royal family had a strict policy of leaving their gates open wide. It was a welcoming change from the thirteen years of no one coming in or out. It was not so welcoming, however, to someone who wanted a tour of the castle in the dead of the night. That's why no one was near the front gates or the streets. The hopeful intruder was taking the overhead approach, the rooftops.

"Ah blast," a voice chided itself, "I forgot they had a bridge." A strapping youth dressed in a tattered bundle of layered clothes squatted at the edge of the closest roof. A small, worn satchel hung dutifully close by his side. He rested his head against the chimney he had been peering around. "What would Grandpapa say in this situation?" The boy seized his head in his hands and puffed out his cheeks, trying to jog his own memory. His face lit up. "Never store your cooked meats near raw ones, they'll soil each other!" He had confused himself. "No that's wrong. Come on." He puffed his cheeks out again and pulled at his ears. If anyone could see him right then, he would've felt very foolish.

"Hello!" An overly high-spirited voice greeted loud in his ear.

"Oh sweet mistletoe!" the boy nearly shouted, but quickly muffled it in his scarf. He quickly tried to scramble away from who he thought was going to turn him in only to see something completely unexpected. "You're a snowman?" Sure enough, a cheery snowman was standing next to him. A tiny cloud hovered above his head, letting snowflakes drift down all around him.

"Hi! I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" The snowman opened his arms wide, though he didn't seem to actually expect the gesture to be reciprocated. The boy stared for a moment, flabbergasted by this development. Then a buttery grin spread across his face and he quickly wrapped the snowman up in his arms.

"I've never met a talking snowman before!" He pulled back and grabbed the snowman's tiny hand and shook it enthusiastically. "It's very nice to meet you! I'm Ni—" He slapped a hand over his own mouth. He had nearly said his name because he was so excited! Olaf couldn't help but laugh at this.

"I've never met anyone named Ni before either," he chuckled to himself.

"That's not my name!" he protested.

"Then why'd you say it was?"

"I can't tell you my real name." He puffed his chest out proudly, his chin jutting forward. He looked like a pompous chimpanzee. Olaf looked at him quizzically. Then he looked around at where they were.

"So why are you on the roof?" The boy was almost taken aback by such a direct question.

"I want to get in the castle." Again his hands slapped themselves over his mouth. He hadn't meant to say that. The snowman pointed at the wide open gates.

"Why don't you go in the front door?"

"I don't want to be seen." It was just like his sister had said; he couldn't keep his mouth shut to save his own skin.

"Do you _really_ want to go in?"

"It's important, yeah." The snowman's brow crinkled in concentration.

"Wait, I'm getting something," Olaf mumbled, and then he lit up, "Oh I know!"

"Shh! Not so loud!" Even if he had been spotted by a snowman, the boy still didn't want to attract any more unwanted attention.

"Fall in the water!"

"I can't swim very well," the boy admitted.

"That's even better!"

The boy's face contorted from shock, to concern, and then to surprise, because he was already being dragged straight off the rooftops and to the waiting docks. "No stop please I don't want to get in the water!" Too late! Olaf heaved the lean lad into the water. He floundered about, trying to find a handhold. "Help!" He gulped in water with every breath he attempted to take. He was barely able to hold his satchel above his head with his free arm. He thought he was done for. Then those ridiculous twig arms reached down into the water. Olaf quickly hoisted him back onto the pier.

"You weren't kidding! You really can't swim," Olaf observed. The boy gasped for air, spitting out a mouthful of water.

"When someone tells you they can't swim, your first instinct should _not_ be to throw them into the water," he scolded in between gulping in air.

"I'm getting you into the castle like you wanted!"

"The fjord is not a castle, no matter how you slice it."

"Follow me!" Olaf ignored his new friend's complaints and raced towards the castle gates.

"Olaf… Olaf!" he hissed, "I told you I can't go in the front gate. It's the middle of the night!"

"Nice night, Olaf," One of the two guards stationed at the front gate called to him.

"Hello!" He stopped at the guard's feet and grinned. "My friend Ni fell in the water." The guard looked up to see a lean boy desperately trying not to shiver. His clothes were absolutely drenched.

"Olaf! Did you scare someone else off the pier?" The first guard rushed to help the freezing boy. Everyone in the area knew that the water was a lot colder than what most people were used to. The second guard had walked into the castle, probably looking for someone to help. "We're sorry about that; he forgets that not everyone knows him," the first guard explained, pulling him into the courtyard. The guard that had left emerged once again, this time with an older woman. The boy guessed she was a handmaid. She carried a cloak to the boy and wrapped it around his shoulders.

"Bye Ni!" Olaf waved from the gate. He pranced away; his job was over.

"You poor dear, let me take you inside. We'll fix you up." She swept him up in her stride, and before he knew what was happening, he was already inside the castle. The boy wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't a friendly escort into the building he was trying to break into. Maybe this wouldn't be as complicated as he had feared.

* * *

"Dandelion fuzz," the boy cursed under his breath. If his mother had heard him, she probably would have slapped him. Not only because he had been swearing, but also because he had made a near-fatal error, again. He thought back to figure out where had made a mistake.

After the handmaid had helped him inside, she insisted that he change out of the rags he had been wearing. She had some difficulty finding him a suitable shirt; all of the men's clothes in the castle seemed to be tailored for a giant, compared to him anyway. He almost felt bad for leaving what she did gather for him in the guest room. When she left he had waited, and waited, and waited, and maybe have fallen asleep for a minute or four, but then, he was off. He quickly changed back to his damp clothes, leaving the nice warm garments folded at the foot of the bed. If he had actually been a traveler that could repay them for their kindness, he would have gladly accepted the bed and clothes. It was his policy to never take what he couldn't return eventually.

He snuck out of his room, slowly walking down the hall. If anyone saw him he'd appear to be half-asleep. That was all the cover he needed since he had been invited inside. He figured that the royal family's quarters would be somewhere near the top of the castle. A procession of suits of armor led up to a spiraling staircase. They were all in pristine condition, save for the one nearest the stairs. It showed severe signs of wear, like someone had crashed into it and attempted to repair it without any idea what it was supposed to look like. He wondered what the repairman was thinking when they had pieced it back together. He trudged up the stairs, listening for anyone walking about in the night.

At the top of the stairs, banister split by columns kept people from accidentally falling three stories. The other side of the hall was lined with cream colored doors, similar to the entry to his room. None were suitable for a queen. The finery of the palace was mesmerizing. Even the candlesticks were more elegant than any of the boy's possessions. If he wasn't so honest he would have tried to put one in his satchel. He turned a corner. A stained glass window adorned the end of the hallway. "Beautiful window, check; door with decorations…" Halfway down the hall, two tall white doors carefully decorated with flowery designs stood tall. "Check! Kind of," he muttered. His sister had said there would be one door, but she was close enough for only having checked once. He pulled several stiff wires out of his satchel. Gingerly, he slid the wires into the keyhole, fidgeting until he heard a click. "Open sesame…" he whispered, pushing the door in slowly.

A single figure snored away under the covers of a large bed. Even facing away from him, she was clearly royalty. He had found her! He slid the door closed just enough to look like it was closed without locking himself inside. When he approached the bed, doubt crept into the back of his mind. She didn't look particularly queen-y. She definitely didn't look magical. She hardly matched the description he had been given. "It won't hurt to try," he mumbled. Setting down the bag on the young lady's bedside table roused her enough for her to roll over.

"Maybe later Olaf…" she mumbled. Drool trailed down from the corner of her mouth. Her hair had wound itself into a mass of ginger curls. That in itself could be labeled as magical; he had never seen such a nasty case of bedhead. He elected to ignore her and dug through his bag instead. He pushed aside various vials and bundles of paper to uncover a small pouch. This was the only reason he was here. He gingerly opened it. It was filled with silvery dust. He took a pinch of the powder and pressed it between his fingertips. He held it above her head and hummed to himself. His fingertips seemed to glow as the dust ignited with a muted light. The light slowly faded and he stopped humming.

"Gidref," he said, ending the tune.

"Let's see if you're her," he said. Reaching in his back pocket, he pulled out a chipped block of glass, a crystal with a point on top. He ceremoniously set the prism down onto the dust in his palm and waited. After a moment, the crystal dully shined a burnt yellow. "Dandelion fuzz," he swore. She wasn't the queen. "Wait. Oh no," he realized who he had found. "It's the princess," he groaned. Of all the mistakes he could have made, this was probably the most ridiculous. "I apologize, milady, but I think I just mistook you for your sister," he grumbled. He shoved the prism back into his pocket and flung the dust onto the princess. "You can have that back now. Sorry for any inconvenience," he quipped, kicking himself inside. How could he make such a thoughtless mistake?

"Mm, krumkake…" she rumbled groggily, chewing the corner of her pillow. He needed to get out of here. He quickly gathered his belongings. He left the princess snoring away, oblivious.

"Where do I go?" he wondered aloud. He had found the wrong beautiful window, but at least he had found _a_ beautiful window. The royal women came in pairs, so why couldn't the royal windows? Despite his flawed logic, around the next corner an impressive window faced out to a beautiful view of the mountains. "Whoa," he breathed. With a view like this, any doors nearby must be… He turned around and inhaled sharply. "The queen's," he gulped. The door was decorated with delicate blue rosemaling. It stood solemnly in front of him, waiting. He reached out and grabbed the handle. He was shaking in his boots, and it wasn't only because the door was freezing cold. "Here goes nothing."

* * *

This one was _definitely_ the queen. If the crown wasn't a dead giveaway, all the snowflakes floating around _totally_ were. He didn't even need to use his crystal to check this one. He hastily grabbed a handful of dust from the pouch and started humming. As the tune progressed, the floating flakes slowed. He paid no attention to the snow's sluggish movement and progressed into a slow chant. "Etted re ne igam mos gej nak erellortnok. Vles enned atnej må ellips ne ellor, dev plejh va tsøv låtn arf te llort. Dem låtn tkam go låtn tkam, al gem få ekryts lit nim seilimaf syl. Nak enned netfark låsen i etted tsøtev i dlevk." The dirty gray dust slowly turned to a dangerous blue, exactly as his grandpapa had thought it would. He smiled to himself and continued chanting. All was going well.

Then the queen woke up.

She opened one eye sleepily. Then both eyes popped open in surprise. She shouted and ice leaped from her fingertips. The boy was thrown back, smashing into a bookshelf. Books and childhood toys rained down. He resumed chanting. His mother had warned him never to leave a chant to run its own course. Terrible things could happen to the person being borrowed from. He tried to calm her by approaching, but it only made her more skittish. The floor iced over and he skidded forward. The queen was simultaneously frightening and frightened, and he couldn't decide if he wanted to comfort her or run far away.

"Intruder!" the queen shouted. Icy spikes sprouted all around the boy, trapping him. "How did you get in?" she asked, pulling her sheets back to stand and walk over to him. He shook his head. If he did this part wrong she might get injured. "I said: how did you get in?" An icicle pierced his collar and he yelped. _Oh no. He had interrupted the chant._ At least he was free to talk now.

"Your majesty, please stop! I don't want to hurt you!" he pleaded. From the intimidating queen to the fearsome spikes, his warning was almost ironic. How could an unarmed boy hurt this magic wielding queen? Except that he wasn't unarmed. The dust branded his hand, expelling a burning light. He flinched as it scorched his palm. The queen watched the boy, not sure what to make of this.

The dust pulsed with light once then fell silent. Cautiously, he opened his palm. An explosion of light blinded him and left his ears ringing. When his vision cleared, he saw the queen lying on her bed, passed out. Her hair had turned from icy white to a chestnut brown. "Y-your majesty?" he ventured. She was out cold. Before he could make his way out of the icicle circle he had been trapped in, the door burst open. The princess, her hair stuck up in a wild mane, ran into the room. She slid forward, nearly falling on her face. She steadied herself on the bed and finally spotted the intruder.  
"Who are you?" she asked. Then she looked down and saw her sister. "Elsa!" She glared at the boy. "Did you do this?" she asked, marching up to the stranger.

"I'm so sorry! It was an accident, I swear!"

"Get away from her!" The princess pulled at one of the spikes and broke off the end. She swung it with a vengeance. "Out!" she shooed him.

"Stop! Ah!" he shouted, dodging the icicle aimed for his head. He rapidly picked his way out of the icicle ring, sliding to the window. He stuffed the dust back into the pouch, too flustered to realize that it was all shining blue. He was so shaken up he didn't even notice when he spilled it onto himself and the floor.

Satisfied that he was staying away from her sister, the princess checked in with Elsa. The queen hadn't moved an inch, and her breathing was terribly slow. The princess touched her sister's hand and then her forehead. "She's burning up. Did you do this?" she turned back to the intruder to find him, missing. "Hello?" The window had been thrown open, ice coating the windowsill and glass.

The boy was gone.

* * *

Chapter one word count: 2,890 words

A/N: I've had this idea bouncing around in my noggin for a while now, and since I was procrastinating on writing something else I thought I would indulge myself with something with a bit more description.

In case anyone is wondering what language "Ni" was speaking, which hopefully you are, it was backwards Google-translated Norwegian. Here's the English translation: "This is a magic that I can control. Even this girl must play a role, using dust borrowed from a troll. With borrowed power and borrowed might, let me bring strength to my family's light. May this power be borrowed in this dust tonight."

I hope you all stay on for the whole ride, because I'm excited to take this as far as it can go.


	2. Crystallized Past

Chapter Two – Name that Crystal Dust! It's Trolls! - Crystallized Past

The entire town was in an uproar. Once the people had found out that someone had not only broken into the castle, but also had injured the queen, no one wanted to be left out of spreading the word. Rumors sprung up like weeds. Some people said that a rival kingdom had sent a spy. Others claimed that it was a rebellion within Arendelle. Another group claimed that it was nature's revenge from the Coronation Chill. Luckily, none of these were true. The truth of the matter was someone of unknown origin had broken in, somehow made the queen terribly ill, and escaped. And no one knew how or why.

* * *

Princess Anna sat in the hallway, leaning on the window. She had been there since last night's incident. Queen Elsa had been fading in and out of consciousness, only awake enough to give a brief description of what had happened before passing out once more. The doctors had been trying to treat her all through the night, but they couldn't seem to pinpoint what was wrong. She was running a high fever, and none of the doctors knew what to make of her new hair color. Anna had been darting around the room, giving helpful suggestions and sliding across the ice, until Gerda eventually shooed her out. Then Anna heard a loud clomping from down the hall. Kristoff, wearing his ice harvester's clothes, turned the corner then ran to her. "Anna! There you are! What happened?"

"Kristoff, it's terrible! There was a boy in the castle last night and he hurt Elsa."

"What? A boy? How did he get in? He managed to hurt her?"

"We, well, we don't really know. I heard her shout last night and then I ran in and her hair was brown like Mo-, uh, ahem. It's just he looked so little and scared and there was ice everywhere and I tried to get him away from her and he did because I almost hit him with an icicle but then he really got away like he ran away and the guards couldn't find him and Elsa isn't waking up and I don't know what he did!" Anna gibbered.

"Hey, hey, slow down. We'll fix this," he tried to reassure her.

"What if Elsa's sick for a really long time? I've never seen her even get a cold! She might not get better…" Anna stopped herself, before she talked herself to tears.

"We'll find that boy, and Elsa will get better, and it'll all be okay." Kristoff hugged her close, trying his best to be comforting. Anna pressed herself close to him. They had come a long way from when they first met and Kristoff had been cautious to even touch her. They stood like that for a while until Kai, the head butler of the castle, emerged from Elsa's room.

"Kai!" Anna disentangled herself from Kristoff's huge arms, leaving him a bit miffed. "How is she?" Kai grimaced. He clasped and unclasped his hands several times, visibly brimming with unadulterated worry. Anna found herself holding her breath.

"Her temperature went down some, but she's still running a fever," he reported. Anna exhaled.

"Do you know what caused it?" Kristoff asked. He was still confused on the actual details of the event, but he had been improving at his jittery Anna-terpretations.

"They can't identify an origin," Kai admitted.

"What are we gonna do?" Anna worried aloud. Neither of the men in the room would admit it in front of the princess, but they were equally as downtrodden.

"Some guards," Kai nipped her rambling in the bud, "found this on the roof." He held a handkerchief in his palm and opened it. A glowing blue powder rested in the center of it.

"What is it?" Anna reached out to touch it. Kai quickly stopped her.

"We don't know, but the guard that found it is in the infirmary." He carefully folded the cloth up and handed it to Kristoff. The royal ice gatherer nervously held it away from himself.

"What exactly happened to that guard?" He eyed the packet of dust dubiously.

"He passed out, and his hair started to turn white." Anna touched her hair, having not quite remembered that her own streak had frozen away.

"White? You mean like…?"

"Exactly like the queen's," he confirmed, "Well, how it was before."

"So finding out what that is could help?" Kristoff asked.

"The trolls. We can ask the trolls!" Anna said, relieved to have a plan of action.

"You actually want to see my mom?" Kristoff puzzled. He was sure that Anna had been avoiding his family since their last visit. The infamous "Grass Knot Incident" was still haunting him to this day. He cringed. Anna would never let him live it down.

"Only because it's for Elsa!" Anna shouted over her shoulder. She charged down the hall, determined. Kristoff had no choice but to follow the headstrong heartthrob of a princess.

* * *

Anna and Kristoff had made excellent time after Anna had completely bypassed the stables and hijacked Kristoff's sled. He tried to keep her out and get her horse, but Sven had been the opposite of helpful; he had practically lifted them into the sled with his antlers. He pulled them along and showed off all the way into the woods. Before long they had reached the Valley of the Living Rock. Boulders of all shapes and sizes littered the mossy valley. Anna hung back while Kristoff and Sven greeted their family. They passed by the rocks and said hello. The trolls woke up and rolled to welcome them home.

"Kristoff!" Bulda shouted, leaving Anna's ears ringing, "And Miss Princess Anna!"

"Hi Mom," Kristoff chuckled as some of the younger trolls pulled at his arms and climbed onto his shoulders. Anna hefted one youngster in her arms, trying desperately not to be pulled over.

"Hello Bulda," she grunted, hoisting another kid with her free arm. She groaned. She had _not_ come here to juggle boulders. She could hardly pay attention with them weighing her down.

"Is Grandpa awake?" Kristoff asked. Grand Pabbie rolled into view.

"Now I am. Welcome home Kristoff," Grand Pabbie greeted.

"We, ugh, have a few questions, oof, for you!" Another playful troll piled onto Anna's shoulders. "Get off of me please," she squeaked. She wondered how Kristoff could manage to do this for all the time he lived with them. He hardly even acknowledged the quartet of kids climbing all over him.

"What's weighing on your mind?" Grand Pabbie asked, concerned.

"Queen Elsa," Kristoff answered. He pulled out the handkerchief and handed it over. Grand Pabbie gingerly unfolded it and examined its contents. His eyes grew wide and he nearly spilled the glowing powder. He slowly folded it back up and gave them a decidedly measured look.

"Where did you get this?" he demanded.

"Grandpa?" Kristoff worried. The last time he had seen his adoptive grandfather in a mood like this, Anna had nearly died. Seems like Anna generally had that effect when she came to see his family.

"Elsa's room," Anna answered, "What is it?"

"This is… a rare magic, to say the least. I haven't seen this since your grandparent's parents were ruling …"

"You've seen it before?" Anna asked. Grand Pabbie nodded gravely.

"I gave this to a man long ago…" He massaged his temple. As he gathered his thoughts, the trolls whispered amongst one another.

"Is he talking about that man? The Liana man…? Impossible! That was years ago! He must be long gone by now!" they gossiped.

"It was very, very long ago," he sighed. "A man, injured and abandoned, found his way into our valley. We healed him, but his injuries were very serious and he could not idle long enough to not injure himself again. He told us that he had been driven out of his town, but refused to state why. After living here for a time it became evident." Grand Pabbie conducted the Northern Lights to illustrate his memory. "Wherever he walked, overbearing weeds would sprout in his wake. He tried to avoid it but no matter where he treaded," The lights showed a man walk across the sky, and was hounded by wildflowers, "the foliage followed." The man was shown hacking at the weeds, but they grew over the vision, smothering the imaginary man.

"Before I proceed, you must understand, this was a time when magic was much more feared. A queen such as your sister would have only been able to rule with the power of fear. No one with even a hint of magic could be trusted, which, consequently, is one of the reasons we live in this valley now. Not too long after he had arrived, and was still recovering, a youngster found a woman hiding in the mountains. If I am recalling this correctly, it was Bulda who discovered her and brought her back to us.

"This woman, she was not secretive about what had forced her into hiding. Insects and any other small animals were revived when she approached." The light morphed to show skeletal bugs and rodents rising up and following the severe woman. She shooed them but they followed her, like a black magic parade. "Similarly to this man, she had no control over what her powers affected. She visited regularly until, as such things often occur, the two of them fell in love and were married soon after."

"That's so sweet!" Anna interjected, temporarily forgetting her worry. Grand Pabbie smiled lightly. He eyed Kristoff's hand on the princess's shoulder. Bulda nudged her husband, Cliff, and gave him a coy smile. When Kristoff noticed their reactions he quickly removed his hand. All of this went right over Anna's head.

"They wanted to have a family together, but they didn't want their children to have to deal with the detestation from others that they received at their homes. Grand Sten, our leader at the time, gave them two options. The man chose the removal and transfer of powers, and the woman chose a home where they could let their powers flourish and grow at their own rate. He gave them both."

"Both? But how would that work?" Kristoff asked.

"For the woman, he provided them with a small amount of land that was near no other people. It was an area reserved for them. The man received a small collection of our crystals. I myself taught him the chants used to transfer powerful energy from a person into a crystal and back again. If they have resorted to using this flimsy dust for the process…" his voice trailed off, troubled.

"What happened to them?" Anna inquired.

"A few years ago, before you two were even born, a young messenger found us and told us that he was their son, and that his father had passed on. I assumed that it was the end of them, but it seems as though there still must be a few people living on in his absence. However, they are not upholding his will. He firmly believed in letting empowered people make their own choices. Anything else would be an underhanded deal for them. I had wondered how they were faring…" He became lost in thought. "There's not much I can do in this situation…" He gently handed the handkerchief back to Kristoff.

"Well, how can we reverse what they did to Elsa? It was them, right?" Kristoff inquired.

"What did they do anyway? I don't think I get it…" Anna muttered. She hated to ask, but it was easier to ask now than to be completely lost later. She had slowly learned that over the years.

"You must have suspected this already, but they have removed her powers over ice and snow." Anna pulled at the hems of her dress. A threat like this surfacing just when things were looking peaceful was unsettling, to say the least. At last, Elsa had come to terms with her power, only to have it taken away, along with her health. Kristoff could see the wheels turning in her head, and he tried to calm her.

"But you can reverse it, right?" Kristoff encouraged.

"Only they will be able to manipulate it now, I can't help you," Grand Pabbie confessed.

"What does that mean for Elsa?" Anna implored.

"You'll have to discuss it with the descendants of that man. Arvid Liana was his name."

"We have to find that boy," Kristoff realized.

* * *

_Somewhere above the Mediterranean Sea, _er,_ in the mountains surrounding Arendelle…_ Marshmallow sat at the steps of the ice palace. Elsa had not visited him. In fact, no one had visited him. He would have thought that at least someone would want to see the great big castle in the mountains. It was a beautiful sanctuary, and it was his duty to protect it. He would uphold his duty until he melted. Though it was awfully boring to protect something no one came to see.

He had considered going down into the kingdom to look for the queen, and to be sure that no one was disturbing her solitude, but… Something deep inside told him he had to stay put. Plus he doubted that he could make it all the way down there with his busted leg. That group of soldiers that had taken the queen away had done a wonderful job of disabling him.

He wondered how much time had passed in the kingdom. He didn't have a very good grip on time, but if there was a threat, he could take care of that in no time at all. Those wolves that thought they could desecrate the palace had been terribly surprised when part of the mountain rose up and threw them back into the woods. He remembered their vehement howls quite clearly.

"Ahhhuuh!" a voice howled. Marshmallow nearly jumped. He thought for sure he had scared away the animals for good. "Ahhhhgh," the voice continued to moan. Now it didn't sound so much like a wolf. He settled into the trench he had carved out in the snow and waited. The moaning and groaning grew louder and louder until he could hardly stand it. For a being with no ears he had surprisingly keen hearing, and he did not appreciate the ruckus. "Uuuaahhh…" Marshmallow was just about fed up with whatever was making this noise.

"Go over the mountains, she said!" That was definitely not a wolf. "You won't get caught, she said!" A boy, probably not over sixteen years old yet, hiked up over the crest of the mountain, looking straight at the ground to fish his feet out of the snow. "It will be easy, she said!" He scoffed. "Well if this is easy, then I'm a prince!" He shouted down the mountain, spiting someone who was clearly absent.

"Ice palace my behind…" he muttered, "I don't see any ice," he gasped, "palace! It's a palace! Made of ice! Ice palace! Pal-ice!" He laughed out of joy and exhaustion. "Ha! Hah! This is amazing!" He gestured wildly at the palace. Marshmallow prepared himself to pounce. Then his jaw dropped so far it left a dent in the snow.

When the boy had gestured at the queen's palace, icy streams had shot out of his hands and landed on the ground with an audible thump. A section of his hair turned icy white. "Ah! Mustard seed!" He buried his fists under his arms and hunched his shoulders. "If I keep that up everybody'll know I messed up…" Marshmallow crept up behind the boy and stood at his full height. He breathed icy chills down the back of the boy's ragged shirt. The boy froze and slowly turned his head. Terror filled his face for a split second and then morphed into morbid acceptance and he shrunk back. "You won't get caught, she said," his voice cracked. He darted for the steps. Marshmallow blinked. This kid was full of surprises. He chased after him. "Peace blossoms!" the boy swore.

* * *

Chapter two word count: 2,680 words

A/N: I have to say, Anna freaking out is _really_ fun to write, and so are magical backstories. I hope you all liked this chapter! I love all reviews and predictions, so I hope you'll leave some! I'll try to get the next one out next week so get ready for some adventure~ (What a great way to build up the suspense!)


	3. Helping the Royalty Badge

_Chapter Three – Helping the Royalty Badge_

Pyry could hardly wait. She could hardly believe it when grandpa had said that she would be the princess's guide! Plus her brother would be there, which was always a huge plus. She wrapped her scout neckerchief around her neck and tightly secured it in place. Her fire crystal shone a brilliant red next to her green earth crystal. Her parents had been astonished when she had managed to earn both kinds. Usually kids her age just focused on one type and stuck with that. She rolled her eyes at the thought. That was so boring! Where was the fun in that? No one would be impressed if she just grew mushrooms and earned earth crystals her whole life. She was little for her age so she had to work twice as hard.

"Pyry, honey?" her father called ahead to warn her about…

"Oh pebble!" her mother scooped her up in her arms. Pyry knew that this was technically her parent's cave and that they could come in whenever they wanted, but come on! "I'm so proud of you!" Pyry pulled herself out of her mother's arms and smiled gently.

"Thanks Ma." She smoothed down her moss dress and repositioned her crystals. _There. Now she was really ready._

"Do you have everything?" her father asked, smiling wide.

"Yes sir!" she shouted and saluted. Her scouting was one thing that she did get just as excited about as everyone else.

"Don't be late, sugar!" her mom hugger her.

"Help out wherever you can, alright?" her father kissed her on the head.

"Don't get lost!" her mother pushed her out of the cave.

"And have fun!" her father called.

"I'll be back before you know it!" she said. She walked out into the open and glanced back. Two boulders huddled together at the opening of the cave. She smiled. This would be a piece of cake.

* * *

"Nice snowman!" the boy skittered around the floor, dodging the snowman's icy hands.

In the center of the floor was a beautiful frozen fountain, and to either side of it crystalline stairs. Nothing could have interrupted the cathedral-like image if it wasn't for a huge _thing_ in the ceiling. Ice jutted out in all directions. Shattered pieces had impaled themselves into the ground. It was eerie, like walking into a graveyard for a war no one remembered. He couldn't figure out what it might have been originally just by looking at it. Just then he spotted another staircase just beyond the first two. It looked much too small for the gigantic snowman. He glanced down just in time to avoid a massive jumble of icy fingers.

"Get out!" the snowman rumbled, reaching for him.

The boy fled up the stairs. He wanted no part of whatever that massive thing wanted to do. Its pointer finger was as tall as he was when he was on tip toes. He glanced over his shoulder. The snowman roared and the boy spotted something shiny on its head. He almost laughed when he realized what it was. A tiny tiara perched atop its head, as dainty as could be. He tripped over his own feet and slid halfway down the second staircase. Somehow the giant had made its way up to the first landing. He swiped at the boy, barely missing his satchel.

"Leave me alone!" the boy pleaded. He picked himself back up and scurried up the last few steps. Even more shards of thin ice were impaled around this room. The ceiling arched up into a beautiful point and he had to pause to take the room in. The broken mess of ice could not take away from its magnificence. He slowly crept around the shattered remains of what he now guessed was a chandelier.

The balcony was wondrous. A wall of ice made it difficult to access, but after squeezing past that he stood witness to the most breathtaking view he had ever experienced. The mountains stretched before him, bowing to the palace's elegant power. He wanted to jump up and down, celebrate, shout, anything! The view reminded him why he loved to live! He danced back and forth, twirling and grinning. The world spun along with him, joyously celebrating. His vision blurred into one long landscape. Nothing outside this spiraling moment mattered.

_CRACK!_

Gravity grabbed his foot and pulled him down. He had spun too close to the broken balcony and it had given in. He fell back and felt his heart drop into his stomach. His arms reached forward, too late. He watched himself fall as if he were a bystander. His arms reached forward before he could even react, but he was too far gone. "Bramble bush!" he screamed. Gravity hugged him around the waist and he spun and saw the snowy ground jumping up to greet him. He squinted and grimaced.

Then the ground stopped. His heart got knocked all the way up into his head. He was having trouble processing all that was happening. The bread he had had for lunch tried to crawl up his throat but he gulped it back down. _Okay. Stop. Think it through._ He inhaled and gathered his thoughts. He looked down and saw an icy finger around his waist. He twisted around and saw that the icy finger was attached to a snowy arm which was attached to a snowy man. _Oh dear._ The snowman lifted him up and back onto the balcony. He let him down so that his feet just barely touched the ground, but he didn't let go. The boy awkwardly hung from the snowman's thumb.

"Uh, thanks. Could you let me down now? Please?" he asked with a pained grin.

"How," the snowman huffed, "did you do that?"

"Do what?" he laughed nervously.

"Snow. Magic." His face contorted into a confused frown. "You're not Elsa."

"Elsa…? You mean Queen Elsa?!"

"Who are you?" the snowman asked.

"You first," the boy grunted. He squirmed to free himself and failed. He flopped forward, chin resting on the snowman's knuckle.

"Marshmallow."

"Uh, I don't have any on me, if that's what you're asking…"

"My name is Marshmallow."

"Marshmallow?"

"Yes," Marshmallow deadpanned. The boy tried to hold back his laughter, but a snort still managed to leak out. "What is it?" Marshmallow asked slowly.

"You're just so big and scary I thought your name would be Glacier or Avalanche or something!"

"Well what's your name? Snowball? Mouse?"

"You wound me!" he said in mock offence, "I never knew golems could be so cold!" he swooned comically into Marshmallow's palm. The snowman's brow furrowed.

"Golem?" he asked.

"Yeah, you're a golem!" the boy explained, "A natural guardsmen. I've seen one or two before."

"Did you make them?"

"Me? Oh, no. I'm not too good with magic…" he sighed deeply, "That's my sister's job. She's an artist when it comes to clay."

"Not good at magic?" Marshmallow backtracked, "How did you use the ice?"

"Uh, luck?" the boy shrugged. The fingers around his waist tightened. Frightening spikes poked out of the snowman like fangs. "Okay, okay, sorry! I just," he sighed, "Promise not to tell anyone?" Marshmallow nodded. "I needed to borrow some magic because my family needed it, but then the queen woke up and my chant got interrupted and the dust went all pachow and I spilled it on me and now my hair is turning white and there's ice popping up everywhere and I just have to get back home because my family will know what to do so I can give it back! I think."

Marshamallow took a minute to digest that run-on thought.

"So you want to give the magic back?"

"Well I only wanted to borrow a little bit in the first place!" he explained, "Yeah. I do."

Marshmallow thought it over. "Can I help?" he ventured.

"You want to help me?" the boy beamed up at him. His green eyes brimmed with tears for some reason that Marshmallow could not understand. He lifted the boy onto his shoulders, where he struggled to perform the necessary splits required to sit on his broad shoulders, and limped towards the stairs. The boy noted that his left leg had an irregular split in it. He would have to ask him about it later.

"I want to help Elsa," Marshmallow replied.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Anna asked. Her voice was muffled underneath Kristoff's hat.

"For the umpteenth time," Kristoff snatched his hat off her face, "Almost!" Anna took the hat back.

"You said it was a short trip, buster!" She positioned the hat back on her head.

"Compared to the mountains, yes, it is a very short trip!" Kristoff groaned.

"This is taking longer than last summer's trip to Corona!"

"You got stuck on a deserted island for two weeks on the way because your captain got lost. There is no way that this is longer than that." He grabbed his hat back and set it back on his head, way too far forward to be convenient or comfortable. He hunched his shoulders together and held the reigns tightly, determined to ignore her.

"At least the monkeys were friendlier than you!" Anna ribbed. She took his hat again and grinned proudly. She looked like a cat that had eaten a prized canary. She giggled and stuck out her tongue.

"Oh hush," he slid the hat down so it covered her face.

"Ew! Your hat tastes like reindeer!" She quickly handed it back to him.

"How would you know what reindeer tastes like, I wonder?" he teased, proudly placing the hat back on his own head.

"Three words: The. Grass. Knot. Incident," she counted them off on her fingers.

"That's four words," Kristoff muttered, but he wasn't going to go down that path any farther.

Sven snorted and his two passengers quickly sat up. Volcanic vents spit warm fumes into the air on either side. They sped past them. Boulders with spiraling mossy designs rested on either side of the path. Sven slowed until he finally came to a stop at the basin of the valley. The rocks were positioned all around on the ground, with a small clearing in the center. A smaller rock sat alone in the center of the circle. It seemed very alone, but also very proud of that lonesomeness.

"Hey guys," Kristoff greeted, stepping out of the sled. The ride had been a bit bumpy since the summer air would never let any snow stay on the ground for long. He checked the runners then walked to the center. "Pyry! You're our scout?" The rock rolled out and Pyry's childish face grinned up at him.

"I sure am!" she asserted, hands on her hips and chest puffed out.

"Ready to go?" he checked.

"Of course," she scoffed.

"Then let's go already!" Anna yelled from the sled. Pyry frowned. She had only seen the princess on a few choice occasions, but she still knew exactly how a princess was supposed to act. A princess was supposed to be sophisticated, graceful, quiet, not currently tripping as she struggled to get out of the sled and shouting about how long it took to get here and get going already.

"We're heading out, everyone!" Kristoff shouted.

"Why is everyone so loud in this valley?" Anna shouted back.

"You're yelling too," Kristoff elbowed her teasingly.

"Am I? I am!" she yelled, "Hello! Wow, you're right!" Kristoff plugged his ears and Anna hit his arm. He winced, half playfully and half because, good gosh, that girl had a mean right hook.

"Ahem," Pyry cleared her throat. Punching was not very princess-like behavior. "Let's go then."

"Yes! Finally!" Anna hollered and hauled tail back into the sled. "I'm ready to roll!"

"Hey Kristoff," Pyry whispered, "That _is_ Princess Anna, right?"

"Of course, why?" he asked. Pyry eyed the young woman bouncing up and down in her seat.

"She doesn't seem like a princess. I think she's a fake," she whispered urgently. Kristoff couldn't help but laugh.

"That was rude!"

"Was it? Sorry," she said unapologetically, "I was just expecting something different I suppose. Someone who's calm, collected, I don't know, cool!"

"Boy, are you in for some surprises," he chuckled.

"Hurry up, slowpokes!" Anna yelled. Kristoff picked up Pyry and walked back.

"You'll learn to love her," he smiled. He settled down into his seat. Sven started walking and pulling the trio along.

Pyry watched her adopted brother carefully. He was sitting just a bit too close to this clumsy "princess" than she saw fit. The way she talked to Sven was just a bit too casual. The way they ignored her when they scooted together and Kristoff wrapped his arm around her shoulders simply wouldn't do. She had promised to help guide them to the village, but she had never said that she would help them with _this_. Whatever _this_ was, she wanted no part of it.

* * *

Kai stretched and cracked his knuckles. He had been on watch duty for a good ten hours and he was starting to get tired. His life had been much easier when the girls' parents were ruling, not that he would ever give voice to the thought. He sat on a high-backed chair and slowly rolled his shoulders back. Years of working as head of castle staff had lead all of his weight to congregate in his midsection. He shifted to ease the pressure from his back and it protested with a series of creaks.

"Good gracious I'm getting old," he sighed. He had reached the point in his life where it didn't bother him so much that he was aging, but that he wasn't able to do everything he had used to. He smacked his lips, a habit he had been trying to curb that Gerda always pointed out, and leaned his forearms onto his knees. The last time he had been awake this long had been when Princess Anna had chased after her sister during the Coronation Chill. It was always one or the other in this family. They simply couldn't stay still for too long, lest they freeze in place.

Speaking of freezing, the icy creations from the events of _that_ night were still piercing the air in the room. Icicles had strung themselves like leaves growing from a tree branch along the corners of the walls and in eerie patterns on the floor. The floor was coated with a thin veneer of ice, causing most of the orderlies to slip and slide whenever they attempted to navigate the room. One of the maids had nearly broken her neck while bringing in a quilt. He yawned and massaged his own neck. A quiet knock came from the door.

"Come in," he said, sitting up.

"Kai?" Gera poked her head in. "There you are." She stepped inside. "Any change?"

"Not since the princess set out." They met in the middle of the room and stood over the queen's bed, careful to keep their distance. Even if they had known her since she was just a baby, she was still the queen. Her white hair was speckled with brown, the only outer sign that something was amiss deep inside. Kai tried to imagine her as a brunette, and suddenly he was seeing the old queen off on her last voyage all over again. He shook his head to clear it of the memory. Gerda tilted her head in his direction; silently asking what had bothered him. "Their parents," he confirmed. She nodded. They had been working together long enough to be able to tell what the other was thinking with few words exchanged.

Contrary to popular belief, their job was not restricted to only cleaning dusty old paintings and catching princesses falling off of balconies. It also included silent communication, often through reading the subtleties in body language or simple clues in a conversation. It was all a part of learning to respond to the correct cues. They could fulfill a person's wish before they had even thought of it.

They stood in a tranquil silence, neither one wanting to disturb their flighty peace.

Kai closed his eyes and breathed in the calm, and Gerda grabbed his arm. He snapped to attention. Gerda's hand was tightly wrapped around his arm. He followed her line of sight. Queen Elsa's face was bunched up into a tight ball of concentration. It was painful to look at. Her expression grew tighter and tighter until something snapped. For a split second, she wore an intense mask of pain, but then returned to her original dreamy expression. Her ordeal would have gone unnoticed, if it wasn't for one major difference. Where her white hair had been speckled with brown since that night, now it was streaked unnaturally. Shocks of chestnut brown stood out boldly against her natural hair color.

They had both reached forward to help, but neither knew how. They receded back to the foot of the bed. It was a terrible feeling, to know that no matter what you tried, nothing you attempted would help. Gerda sniffled and quickly blinked tears away.

"It's not your fault," Kai said.

"I let him in," she sniffed, "I took him at face value and let him in and now…" Her lips trembled and a single sob escaped. She covered her mouth, looking away and blinking fiercely. He reached down and gripped her hand.

"Chin up. We'll pull through, just like we always do," he reassured anyone listening.

Only in this complete solitude would they let emotions as strong as these be released. She inhaled shakily, and gave his hand a tight squeeze.

"We'll make it." He said it for everyone in the room, even if they couldn't hear him.

* * *

"Marshmallow! Are you trying to get me killed?!" the boy screeched. He had nearly fallen straight off the mountain and hundreds of feet down into the woods when the snowman had turned way too fast. He slipped on the wave of ice that had materialized underneath him when he had started falling. It looked like the ripples of a pond when someone threw a pebble. It was smooth and wavy all at once, and he couldn't find a foothold anywhere. "Can I get a hand here?"

Marshmallow's huge hand shadowed him from above. He pinched the boy around the waist and held him in front of his face. "I thought," he paused, "you were on my, uh," he couldn't recall the word.

"You can do it, big guy."

"Shoulders. I thought you were on my shoulders." They grinned at each other.

"There you go!" the boy patted one of his friend's huge fingers. "You were up on that mountain by yourself for too long, buddy! How long did you say it was? Two months? Six maybe?" he pondered.

"A few years," Marshmallow said.

"Whoa. How did you last that long all by yourself?"

"Wolves are good for throwing." The boy laughed and then stopped suddenly. "What is it?" He watched as the boy shivered and a shock of white hair appeared on his head where there used to be only flecks of white.

"Nothing, just a chill I guess," he attempted a laugh, but it died quickly. "Can you go any faster than you were when you nearly threw me down a cliff?" he asked as he was lifted onto the snowman's back again.

"Yes." Marshmallow picked up the pace, hardly feeling the boy shivering against him.

* * *

Chapter three word count: 3,240 words

A/N: Sorry for the delayed update! I forgot to mention that I was in tech week for a show last week and I'd be delayed a week, but here I am!

Just in case it wasn't clear in the chapter: I made a slight detail adjustment with Elsa's hair color. It's not totally brown like I had said in the first chapter anymore, now it's mostly white but with brown streaks, similar to how Anna's hair was before she was deep-frozen.

As usual, all reviews, suggestions, and critiques are welcome and appreciated. Don't forget to follow and favorite, and if you're enjoying the story so far, please share it!


	4. Unwelcome Tourists

_Chapter Four – Unwelcome Tourists_

"Lockstein? Never 'eard of it," the grizzled farmer replied, not even looking up from his plow. The mule that was pulling regarded the motley crew on the other side of the fence with an air of skepticism. The reindeer looked back at her with an equal amount of cynicism. The mule ignored him and looked at the sled he was pulling instead. It was fancy, finer than any cart she had ever laid eyes on. It was positively pompous. She snorted.

A young man and woman sat in the front seat. The man was slouched over the reins and the woman was leaning all the way over the back of the seat with a hat over her face, half asleep. The man had a burly build that showed years of hard labor. His intimidation factor was severely diminished by his boyish face. The mule directed her attention towards the woman. Her matching pigtail braids clashed with the finery of her dress, making it hard to guesstimate her age. In the bed of the sled, there was a lute, some ropes and pickaxes, and a mossy rock. The whole collection of people and objects formed a crazy kaleidoscopic collage. It screamed, "We are outsiders and you should not trust us!"

The mule resumed ignoring them.

"Are you sure? We heard that town was somewhere around here," the blond man continued.

'What man asks for directions?' the mule wondered.

"Hush, Brita," her master silenced her.

'You've never asked for directions,' she said.

"I said hush," he repeated. He had never asked for directions because he had never travelled. He looked over at the sled. The man seemed to be bickering with his reindeer. He said something then mouthed something back at himself.

'What a weird guy,' the mule said to her farmer.

The reindeer and man's heated argument eventually led to the reindeer kicking the front of the sled with his back leg. The woman sat up with a start. She talked to the man, looking over his shoulder at the plowing team. The man massaged the bridge of his big nose and the woman touched his arm. She said something to him and he shrugged and nodded. The woman stepped out and approached the fence. The farmer pushed back the brim of his hat. Without a hat over her face, she was really pretty. He quickly pulled his own hat down again and stared ahead. He wouldn't be that easily swayed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two of his sons stop working. He glared at them and they pretended to focus. He turned his plow and began heading away from the fence, avoiding the sled riders altogether.

"Um, excuse me?" the woman called. The old farmer ignored her. As he started to walk away, one of his sons approached, plowing in the opposite direction. "Hello!" she greeted the younger man. He tipped his hat but otherwise ignored her. The donkey in front of his plow trotted forward and brayed a greeting. The reindeer snorted back. "Do you know of a town called Lockstein? Our directions are kinda… outdated. We're lost, basically."

"Toogh situation yoor in then," he responded.

"Yeah, so if you could tell us which direction, or if you've even heard of it," she probed.

"Oh yah, that voold be nice vooldn't it?" he avoided an answer. He had reached the end of his row and turned away. He and his younger brother traded places at the side of the fence.

"Hey! You!" the woman waved and jogged to the last farmer. "Could you tell us what towns we're near, please? We really don't know where we're going!"

"Vell vhy didn't you check foor directions when you left?" the youngest man replied. His accent was just as thick as his superiors, if not thicker.

"Well we asked our friend but it turned out she didn't know exactly where we were going, just the general area. Does Lockstein ring any bells?" she asked.

"Lockstein? Of course I've 'eard of Lockstein!" he scoffed, "Lockstein's a straight shot doun the road. It'll be on yoor right," he said. Before he could finish, the woman was back in the sled. "Only toun round here verth avoiding," he muttered under his breath.

"Thank you!" the woman said gratefully. She reached for a name then realized he hadn't said it.

"It's Gunne Omdahl," he introduced himself and tipped his hat. Fancy people such as these always liked it when he tipped his hat.

"Thank you Gunne!" she waved.

"One moment, miss! Vhat did you say yoor name vas?" he asked on a whim. They were already nearly out of earshot, but the woman turned around and cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted back:

"Princess Anna of Arendelle!"

His father and brother's heads snapped up so fast their hats fell off their heads. The youngest brother held one hand to the side of his head and turned back and forth between the receding sled and his family. Once he figured out that he was awake, his shock transformed into elation. "A princess joost thanked me! I joost helped a princess! A princess asked me to 'elp her!"

"Hush up, Gunne! You aren't a knight joost for giving a princess directions!" his brother teased.

"You hush up, Mikkel! You joost vish you vere the one to give her directions!" Gunne retorted.

* * *

"Marshmallow, be careful," the boy murmured. The big snowman stopped and scanned ahead of him. Other than a few spindly white trees, the path was clear. Then he heard a quiet sigh from behind his head. The boy was asleep. "Grandpa's trees," he crooned, cuddling into Marshmallow's neck. The snowman looked at the white trees with black stripes again. Were those the grandfather trees? Earlier, when they had reached the base of the mountain, the boy had said that there would be a densely packed jungle. That was when their journey would almost be over. Marshmallow wasn't completely sure what a jungle was. From the way the boy had fawned over it, he could guess that it was somewhere special, at least to the boy.

He took another step and stumbled forward. He caught himself on a tree, snapping the trunk. The horrible noise of cracking bark was enough to send any nearby birds squawking away in a panic. He swung his arms, attempting to catch himself on his way down, and took out even more trees. He felt the boy on his back wake with a start, just in time to watch him crash face first into the ground. He growled and decided then and there that he didn't like dirt. He didn't like clay or mud or soil or anything like it.

The boy stumbled off of the snowman's back, still in a half-asleep stupor. "Marshmallow!" He darted up to his head and tried to heave it up. "Are you alright?" he worried. He tugged at the back of his neck to no avail. "What happened?" He pulled hard at the edge of his ear and puffed up his cheeks. He looked back and nearly ripped his own ear off in surprise. Marshmallow's left leg was missing. "Jumping juniper…" the boy muttered. Back from where they had come from, the leg at large stood alone. The boy snorted out a breath, irritated. He marched right up to the leg. "You! Get over there!" he commanded. His pointing got him nowhere. "Go! Get! Shoo! Hup!" He kicked the foot and Marshmallow groaned.

"Thad burt," Marshmallow said into the dirt. The boy paused. He had no idea what he had said. Marshmallow pushed up with one arm and spit out soil. "That hurt," he rumbled.

"Oh, oh! You can still feel that! I didn't realize! Sorry!" he excused himself. He couldn't decide if he wanted to run back and apologize more or comfort the lone foot. He decided to hug the leg. "Sorry!" he shouted, "Uh, should I bring this back to you?"

"No," Marshmallow replied. He pushed onto his good knee and plodded forward. Unable to keep his balance, he pitched forward and landed on his elbows.

"Please, let me help!" he started towards his friend. He was batted away.

"No. Done it before. Do it again," Marshmallow dismissed him. The boy's eyebrows stitched themselves together and his mouth flattened into an exasperated line.

"Let me help you!" he protested. He gestured out with frustration and icy spikes shot out in every direction. They impaled the ground, the trees, and the snowman. Marshmallow looked down. A thick icicle had buried itself into his chest, along with more icicles that were widely ranging in shapes and sizes. He frowned. This boy may have the same abilities as Elsa, but his magic was nothing like hers. It was feral and erratic, not controlled and perfected like hers.

Marshmallow pulled the largest spear out of his chest and dropped it on the ground. It landed with a thunk. All of a sudden the boy was right in front of him. His mouth was open, but no sound was coming out. He reached for an icicle embedded in Marshmallow's leg, but he couldn't bring himself to touch it. He forced his hand to wrap around the base and then pulled back. It came loose with the sound of a sword being drawn from its scabbard.

He held the icicle to his chest. It was as thick as his arm and as long as his leg. A sob racked his frame. "I didn't mean it," he sniveled, "I wanted to get your leg, but I messed it up, and I hurt you, and you probably don't even want to help me anymore because this thing is bigger than my whole head and then it was in your chest and I just wanted to help you!" he cried. Marshmallow tapped him gently on his head. He looked up. The snowman was giving him that blank look that he wore when he didn't know what to say. He pointed and the boy looked down.

Marshmallow had used the icicles to reattach his left leg. It wasn't quite connected, but he could still use it. When he picked up his leg, it slipped down and threatened to fall off again, but when he put his foot back down it was relinked. It wasn't perfect, but it was a solution nonetheless. "You fixed it," the boy said. He wiped his eyes and sniffled. "How did that happen in the first place?" he wondered aloud.

"Bad soldiers," Marshmallow ruminated. Something in his inflection told the boy not to press the point.

"Are you sure you're fine?" He gently slid his fingers between the joints.

"It's," Marshmallow paused, "okay." The boy smiled gratefully up at him.

"Are you still going to help me?"

"Let's, go." Marshmallow lifted him up. The duo loped on through the trees, leaving the green clearing behind them. Only the abandoned icicles were witness to another streak of the boy's hair turning stark white.

* * *

"They couldn't really mean that this forest was haunted, could they?" Anna laughed.

"They didn't say that it was haunted, they said a witch lived here," Pyry corrected. Anna jumped. She had forgotten that the troll scout was riding in Kristoff's pack instead of walking. They had left Sven and the sled behind at Lockstein's only inn, The Prancing Pig. Kristoff hadn't wanted to leave him there, but Anna convinced the innkeeper to protect him with her 'powers of persuasion.' He would be able to afford another inn with the payment she had given him.

"Isn't it weird though? Nowadays we hear about anything even a little magical," Anna commented. She looked at the thinly spread trees. They barely touched branches. It was like they were nervous to be around anyone, much less each other.

"That floating cat was interesting," Kristoff joked. Anna smiled at the memory.

"Who ever heard of a floating cat?" Pyry grumbled.

"Who ever heard of a talking rock?" Kristoff responded. Pyry made a face that looked like she had just sucked on a lemon and been slapped at the same time. Anna couldn't hold in her laughter. They continued on like that for a ways, Anna and Kristoff joking around together and Pyry grating her teeth and trying not to look too excited about all the new sights and sounds surrounding her.

Their steady plod halted temporarily when they passed a clearing in disarray. Trees had been snapped in half and holes had been bored into the ground. Worst of all, snow coated the ground and icicles jutted out of everything.

"I can't believe they're just using Elsa's powers like that!" Anna fumed.

"Anna, they probably didn't mean to do it. Maybe they lost control," Kristoff calmed her.

"When Elsa lost control she froze the whole kingdom," Pyry commented. Kristoff shoved her back into his pack before Anna had a chance to throw her across the clearing. Anna picked up an icicle, careful not to break it. It was dripping in the summer sun, melting slowly. She looked at Kristoff. Elsa's creations only melted when she wanted them to, and they disappeared wickedly fast.

"We should get going," he said.

"Yeah…" Anna took a once over of the situation before they left. There was a hole in the snow coverage right next to two foot sized holes. Footprints walked off to the side towards a huge hole in the snow. It almost resembled the shape of a body, but the proportions were all off. A distant memory tickled the back of Anna's memory, just out of reach. She shook it away. She would remember it if it was important.

They took their leave, sticking to the path like glue. The trees maintained a safe distance from them, swaying imperceptibly with the breeze. The path slowly dwindled down until it was hardly wide enough for them to walk side by side. Then it stopped altogether. They continued forward in a straight line until they were confronted with a wall made of foliage.

These trees were nothing like the plants they had just been walking past. They weren't afraid of contact and it showed. They weaved tightly together, gripping each other's leaves and groping one another's bark. The brutal sense of impenetrable unity was enough to leave anyone stunned.

"Now that's a forest," Kristoff finally said.

"How are we ever going to find that kid in a place like this?" Pyry said, frustrated that there was another snag in their plan.

"It's fine, we'll just find an opening and start from there," Anna comforted. Her never ending optimism was unnerving. She trooped off, swinging her arms. The rest of the party followed behind her. The way that the vines climbed the sides of the trees and spun and twirled to reach the other branches was mesmerizing. Anna tried to ignore them and looked for an entryway instead.

"Are you sure she's a princess?"

"Pyry," Kristoff groaned.

"I'm just saying she doesn't act at all like royalty!" Pyry protested.

"Be quiet, she'll hear you." He tried to put her back into his pack but she pushed him away.

"I don't care if she hears me!" she said.

"She's a princess and you should respect her." Kristoff reasoned with her.

"Why should I?" she challenged.

"I respect her!" Kristoff blurted out.

Pyry didn't know what to say to his unabashed honesty.

"Hey, look at this!" Anna called them over. She wondered why Kristoff was blushing so brilliantly pink and why Pyry had a sourer expression than usual, but her curiosity quickly switched back to what she had found. "What do you think it is?" Pushing into the tree line was a smooth mass of snow. Behind Anna's back, the mass spun to reveal a scowling face. Kristoff's heart dropped into his stomach. He remembered that scowl. Anna saw his expression and turned. Suddenly she knew what the shapes in the clearing were. The memory that had been itching for her attention jumped forward and her face morphed into a mask of terror.

"Marshmallow," she gasped.

He towered over them and roared, "Go away!" Anna fled to the left. She didn't see Kristoff running the other direction, all she saw were vines and branches reaching for her. "Leave him alone!" Marshmallow bellowed, breathing down her neck. He razed the ground, pulling trees up by their trunks and exposing their roots. The snapping and cracking branches and leaves sounded like screams. Vines twisted in all directions as they lost their anchors. They hissed and whirled malevolently, scraping and cutting the princess's face and arms. Leaves wound around her legs, grabbing at her feet and threatening to send her sprawling.

Her retreat was fuelled purely by adrenaline. Her heart beat to a rhythm set by a delirious drummer. It pounded against her ribs. Each kathunk was a step closer towards it leaping out of her chest and running away without her, leaving her to fend for herself. She couldn't see more than a foot in front of her face, and she could hardly breathe. She kept moving, unaware that the roars of the indignant giant were fading behind her. Her lungs hurt and her eyes were burning. She realized that she couldn't hear that monstrous roar and stopped, finally. She wheezed out a laugh.

"We did it," she celebrated between gasps for air. Running around a palace and globetrotting did not provide the skill set needed to recover from a frenzied flee like that. She held onto a tree for support. Air seemed to be evading her, no matter how many times she sucked it into her lungs. "It was a little rough, for a minute there, hah," she sighed, "but we did it." She leaned on the tree and slid down to a sitting position. "Who would've thought that he'd be here," she laughed. "I didn't know he was still around. Did you?" She opened her eyes and finally realized that she had been talking to no one.

"Kristoff?" She pulled herself to her feet. "Kristoff?" she called, this time more urgent. "Kristoff!"

There was no response.

She was absolutely alone.

She tried to take a step, but her leg turned into jelly beneath her. She acquainted herself with the ground, a bit quicker than she would have preferred, and lay there. "Come on legs, we can do this," she said. She slowly sat up and huffed. Her legs were so sore she could hardly feel them; her arms were so scratched she wished she couldn't feel them; and her heart was beating so fast she could still feel it.

"Well this isn't the worst day ever," she chuckled, but it died off quickly, "What am I gonna do?" she moaned. She buried her head in her hands. "I lost Kristoff, Elsa's sick, there's a kid running around with her powers, I can't stand, Marshmallow was waiting for us, we got lost on the way here, Pyry doesn't like me, and now I'm stuck in the middle of a magical jungle. Fantastic!" Her rambling was in such disarray, she doubted Kristoff would have been able to translate it even if he had been with her.

A rustling in the bushes in front of Anna caused her to look up. An animal emerged from the underbrush. No, it wasn't an animal; it was walking on two legs. The mottled lighting that was leaking through the canopy made it hard to see exactly what it was. It was no taller than her foot, maybe four inches tall, and it was carrying some kind of stick. It poked the bottom of her foot with the stick, and she discovered that it had been sharpened to a point. She recoiled and it mirrored the action.

It stepped closer, cautiously, and she saw that its head was actually an animal's skull. Its body was made out of an odd mix of clay and twigs, with flowers and moss sprouting through to form a living hodge-podge of plants. Thin leaves wrapped around it like a ribbon, holding its form together. They were tied together at its back in a delicate bow. If someone pulled that bow off, it looked as though it would fall apart. There was no way it had tied it itself. Its crude claw-like hands would never allow it.

It crept around her. Whenever Anna moved, it would angrily shake its stick and stomp its feet. Eventually she stopped trying to look and see what it was doing. She nearly jumped when she felt it touch her left hand. She glanced down without moving her head. It kicked her hand, prodding her thumb with its stick. She turned her head slowly. It didn't react. It was too busy climbing on top of her hand. It kept poking her fingers gently, like it was looking for something. Its search was methodical and practiced, like it knew exactly what it was trying to find.

The creature plopped down between her knuckles, one leg on her pointer finger, the other on her middle. It scooted down to find a comfy position and finally glanced up. Though it technically didn't have eyes, it seemed to be scanning her face. It nodded its approval and promptly stabbed the sharpened stick between her fingers. She howled in pain and stuck her finger in her mouth. Over the metallic taste of her blood, she tasted something else. It was sickeningly sweet with a bitter aftertaste. She recalled a long-forgotten lesson from the castle's head chef.

"Poison," she realized. Then reality spun out of focus.

* * *

Chapter four word count: 3,600

A/N: Hi again! If you're a new reader, you can ignore this paragraph, but if you're a regular: Guess which author finally found enough time to write and edit this chapter? This gal! (You can't see me, but I'm pointing at myself.) I've been so insanely busy these past two weeks, so thank you for being patient with me. My schedule is going back to normal now, so updates will be regular again. Phew!

Hoorah for phonetic spellings, amirite? (Isn't it weird how phonetic isn't phonetic?) We're starting to get into the nitty gritty second act (according to my screenwriting books), so get ready for some twists and turns. (I wrote better notes for these upcoming chapters, thank goodness!) If you liked this chapter, please leave a comment, review, critique, whatever strikes your fancy! I'll see you all next chapter. Bye for now!


	5. Give a Dog a Bone

_Chapter Five – Give a Dog a Bone_

Lights danced on the other side of Anna's eyelids. Her head was throbbing and limbs ached. Her eyelids slid open groggily and she squinted at the bright light. The aroma of spices hung in the air, along with a heavier, humid smell. The revitalizing mix of scents encouraged her to sit up. She tried move to a sitting position, but a wave of dizziness hit her square between the eyes. Her vision blurred, and she fell back onto – _Wait, what did she fall back onto? A bed?_ – Whatever she fell onto, it caught her as she dropped off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

"I can't believe he had the nerve to leave in the middle of the night like that, no warning at all."

"I bet he's trying to beat Ask to the punch."

Anna heard two muffled voices, gossiping away in the distance. Her head swam and her eyelids were heavy. She grimaced.

"Well Asher already found one before the both of them," the first voice continued.

"I would hardly call that sorry excuse for magic a source," the second voice scoffed.

"Hey you listen here. I don't care if he's your brother, when he gets home Aunt B is going to beat him with an olive branch till he wishes he hadn't come back."

"My mom would never do that," the second voice protested.

"You're right. She's too nice for that. She'll smack him upside the head with a big kiss instead, precious baby," the first voice guffawed. The friendly banter pounded in Anna's ears like a big brass gong. She groaned.

"Is she waking up?" the second voice asked. Anna heard the owner of the second voice, but she couldn't manage to open her eyes to look at them.

"Hold on let me check the clock," the first voice receded, "It's only noon! That dose should have her out for another few hours at least!" number one shouted from a distance.

"Why'd you even give Kip that stuff?" number two replied.

"That big ape came crashing through here shouting about snowmen and princesses! I thought we might need to knock someone else out too. Don't blame me for _your_ rabid golem's mistakes," voice one shirked any responsibility.

"Kip's not rabid, squash head." Anna could _hear_ the eye roll.

"Get a pumpkin stuck on your head _one time_ and no one will let you forget it!"

Anna's consciousness faded out on the sound of laughter.

* * *

The next time Anna woke up, her headache had vanished. She opened her eyes and blinked hard. Her eyes focused on the eroded wood ceiling above her. Unlike her own room's ceiling made of planks, this appeared to be one solid piece of wood. She shifted her gaze to the right. The side wall, other than being made completely out of wood, had shelves and a table leaning against it. Open bottles and mugs filled with powders and dried leaves packed themselves into every nook and cranny.

She turned her head to the left. Two big green eyes met her gaze. She started for a moment, but then settled back down. The eyes blinked at her. Anna propped herself up on one elbow and looked past the edge of her cot. Those enormous green eyes belonged to a little girl. She sat on a stool next to the bed, eyes huge. Anna rubbed her head and smiled down at her. "Hello," she said.

The girl opened her mouth wide and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Viola! Remember that sleepy lady you said Silly poisoned? The lady that you told me to tell you if she was awake? That lady you said to tell you if she was awake is awake and I'm telling you!" Anna felt that pesky headache from earlier start growing again.

"What was that?" Anna recognized the voice from outside as the first voice when she had woken up earlier. A lanky young woman pulled back the curtain in the doorway and stepped inside. She focused on the little girl. "You made Runa spill her water with all that shouting! What is it?"

"The sleepy lady's awake!" The little girl pointed at her so fast Anna narrowly avoided losing an eye. The woman looked at her and cocked an eyebrow.

"Good evening, sleepyhead!" she greeted. She looked at the girl beside the bed. "How's about you go play with Runa now, okay?"

"_Viola_! I wanna talk to the sleepy lady!" the girl protested. As if on cue, another little girl poked her head into the room. She scanned the scene with a somber look and stared at her cousin's patient in the bed.

"Amma of Aremdelle," she said, still staring. The young woman, Viola, looked shocked, but the other girl smiled wide.

"Amma… Is that your name?" the first girl rushed Anna. She didn't have enough time to process the fact that the new little girl knew her name, well almost.

"Uh, it's Anna," the princess corrected, grateful for a question she could answer.

"Runa, please take Milla outside. You can borrow my jump rope if you'd like," Viola pleaded. Runa tucked a lock of amber hair behind her ear and nodded. "Go on honey." She walked over to the bed, stealing glances at Anna, and grabbed Milla's hand. The two walked out together, Runa staring at the ground and Milla jabbering her head off to anyone who would listen.

"Bye bye sleepyhead!" Milla called.

Viola sighed and sat on the stool beside the bed. "I hope she didn't talk your ear off for too long," she apologized. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore and confused," Anna groaned, rubbing her arms.

"Hah!" Viola laughed. It was loud and bright, and not mean-spirited in the slightest. "I bet. Well, as my grandma's always said, a good dinner can heal all wounds, and luckily for you, dinner is almost ready. Can you stand?"

"I think so." Anna pulled back the thin blanket covering her legs. The bottom of her dress had been torn to ribbons. Thin bandages wrapped her legs. They covered the many scrapes she had received from her mad dash through the jungle.

"How did you manage to do that, anyway?" Viola wondered aloud. "Wait, remind me at dinner. Milla won't be happy with me if I ask all the questions without her." She walked to the doorway and pushed back the curtain. "Well if you can walk, let's go."

* * *

The boy shimmied up the side of a smaller tree to jump to a larger tree. "Like a squirrel, I fly," he muttered, launching himself towards the other tree that was no more than two feet away. He gripped the bark and scaled the last part of the tree. The little light provided from the sunset urged him to move cautiously. He reached up and felt for the ledge. He pulled himself up and over and landed on his backside. "Oof," he grunted. He was back in the hollowed out tree he called home. "Made it," he sighed.

He couldn't see a thing in his pitch-black room. From the ground, he felt around for his candle. He had haggled for ages, but the merchant had relented and traded it away. The boy wrapped his hand around the candle and reached in his bag for a match. Rolling over, he held it up. He looked up to see a scowl. "What took you so long?" his sister hissed.

"Ah!" he shouted and bolted up. His forehead collided with her chin and they both reeled back. "Thistle, Lilly," he cursed, "You scared me!"

"Doesn't take much," she teased. "Did I hit your head too hard?" The boy lit the candle and his sister gasped. "Your hair," she reached to touch his head.

"You look like you saw a ghost," he laughed. It died off when she didn't join him. "What is it?"

"Your hair is white!" she whispered.

"My hair is brown."

"Not anymore it's not," she hissed. Ice bubbled up underneath the boy's feet, on its own volition. His sister's eyes widened.

"What?"

"What did you do?" she pressed, not taking her eyes off the ground.

"Nothing…"

"I told you to borrow some magic for a source! Not use it on yourself!" her tone began leaning towards something dangerous.

"I didn't use it on myself," he said, not exactly lying.

"I'm not blind, you mustard seed," she swore. He stopped to wonder why she had cursed just long enough to spot the ice creeping up his wall. The jig was up.

"It was an accident…" he countered lamely. She crossed her arms and eyed him, scanning him up and down.

"Don't let Mom see it. I'll try and fix this after dinner. You messed up big time," she scolded him as she pulled him into a hug. He didn't know whether he should hug her back or stay ashamed. The mixed signals weren't helping him.

He opened his mouth to respond. "Lilly! Dinner's ready!" his mother summoned his sister from downstairs. "Oh, and that girl that Viola was helping, the one Kip knocked out, she woke up!" she added.

"Girl? What girl?" he asked in hushed tones.

"A big guy and some lady ran through the woods earlier. Viola knocked the guy out and Kip knocked out the lady, but he overdid it. I guess she finally got up. Milla thought she was a goner."

"You knocked somebody out?!" Where was the pacifistic sister he knew and loved?

"Kip did it, not me!"

"Same difference! He's your golem," he harrumphed.

"Lilly can you hear me?" their mother called. She walked up the steps leading up to the bedroom.

"Hat!" Lilly hissed.

"What?"

"Put on your hat!" she reached in his satchel and fished around. She winced when she stabbed her finger on something sharp but continued searching. She raised the hat, triumphant. "Got it." She yanked it down over his head, pulling hard to cover everything except for his ears. Their mother pulled back the curtain dividing his room from the hall and Lilly wrapped him in a headlock. He played along and held his head closer to her arm and groaned.

"Lilly?" their mother stepped in. She spotted them and fumbled with her candle. "Honey!" She ran into the room and wrapped them in a hug. "What were you thinking, leaving in the middle of the night?" He opened his mouth but she cut him off. "I don't want to hear it!" She squeezed him tighter. "I was so worried," she crooned. "You can explain yourself after dinner," she sighed. After placing a kiss on his forehead, one that he tried to wipe off when she turned around, she guided her children down the stairs. She pushed them out the door, across the clearing, and into the dining room.

His entire family tree stretched before him, passing dishes back and forth across the table. His uncles and aunts chatted about the events of the day. They scooped large servings of beans, squash, and greens onto their plates. His cousins competed to see who could sneak food under the table the fastest. The family's pet pigs, Dot and Dim, scarfed down the scraps of food passed from the kids. He had missed this, though he wouldn't say it out loud.

The boy's great-uncle, Eoghan, laughed his boisterous laugh. He puffed out his belly and threw back his head. His youngest cousins, Milla, Runa, and Vesa, sat at the end of the table. Milla shoveled food onto each of their plates. She ignored Runa when she asked her to stop and continued to chatter away with no one in particular. Asher and Ask, his two older cousins, sat across from each other, right next to their mothers. They separated the adults from the children.

Sitting on the kids' side of the table were their two mysterious guests. The boy spotted them and his knees locked up. "What are you doing? Go," his sister grumbled, but he didn't hear. It was the woman whose room he had accidentally broken into; the woman who had nearly taken his head off with an ice bat; the woman that would recognize him immediately; the woman related by blood to the queen. The princess of Arendelle was heaping mashed potatoes onto her plate at his dinner table. His relatives were none the wiser. If they had known she was royalty, she'd already be gone.

His sister shoved him forward and his legs spurred into action. As if in a trance, he walked up to his seat. Across from him, a man tall enough to rival Asher and Ask and muscular enough to be comparable to Eoghan passed plates to the princess. His hands were massive. The boy gulped and scooted his stool underneath the table. If he scooted in far enough he could disappear before anyone noticed he had arrived.

The princess looked up, and in that moment, he knew he was done for. She froze on the spot. Her eyes narrowed into a glare that could halve a mountain. The man noticed her expression and followed her gaze. Glancing back and forth between the two, he connected the dots. He leveled his gaze at the boy as he shrunk even further down into his chair. "All downhill from here," he muttered.

The glares from the royals and the scolding from his family combined into a swirling mass that pressed down on him. "Bud, we thought you died. It's _him._ Glad you're back. Are you sure? Don't slouch. That's the kid! Stop it, Milla. What do we do? Where were you, anyway? Wait till after dinner. City on fire. They don't know why we were running around in their jungle after all. Vesa stop reading her bones, that's creepy! I can't wait that long. Don't you dare say where you went, pollen puff. Calm down feisty-pants. Hush now, your Nanna is here." The entire table went silent.

His great grandmother swept across the clearing. Her skeleton dog flanked her side, clattering with each leap and bound. Dot and Dim backed out of the way, their only show of respect for the decrepit beast, and her dog too. His mother had told him that Nanna was the one who had found this place for them, generations ago. She had terrorized the citizens of the nearby village until they abandoned the forest in its entirety. Her husband's curse had helped them build natural defenses, and no one had dared to bother them. Only others with powers could find their way in, or so they thought. Shortly after their second child had been born, disaster struck. A superstitious man hacked through their defenses and severed the head of their family tree. He didn't know what happened after that. The end of the story had been withheld from the boy. He had only heard clips of conversations soon cut off as he approached. Whether it was too gruesome or too scandalous, he didn't know.

Nanna interrupted his thoughts when she strode by him, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. Her dog ducked its nose down to sniff his legs with an imaginary nose. One whiff of him and it rattled angrily, its own version of a warning bark. It sensed that something was off about the boy. He didn't dare shoo it, so instead he fixed it with a piercing glare. It dug in its heels into the ground and rattled away to the head of the table with its tail between its legs, gnashing its teeth together. That dog gave him the heebie-jeebies.

His Nanna eased into her chair and scanned the faces of her family. No one moved. Her gaze stopped on their two guests. "Who might you be?" The princess shifted in her seat and glanced at the big man sitting beside her. She had seen the bone dog but seemed determined to ignore it until she could freak out by herself. He smiled and opened his mouth to respond. "_Sst_!" Nanna hissed. He flinched backwards. "You will speak when spoken to, _sir_. Your name, miss?" she pressed. The princess's confusion flashed on her face for a millisecond before turning into a gracious smile.

"My name is Anna and this is my, uh," she stumbled over her words, blushing, but recovered, "This is Kristoff."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Nanna nodded her approval. "I will listen to your story after I deal with this deserter." Without warning, she whirled on the boy.

"_Nicholas Sten Liana Junior!_" she barked, locking her eyes onto him.

"It's Nils," he corrected. Her gaze hardened and he clammed up. "Yes'm?" he asked.

"Where were you?" she asked, calm. His sister stiffened beside him, a warning not to tattle.

"I was, um," he gulped, "just, y'know," he said, voice cracking.

"Nicholas, answer my question."

"I dunno, I was just, uh, out." His cousins ogled him. None of them could remember anyone avoiding one of Nanna's questions and surviving.

"Nicholas, answer me."

He floundered for an answer that wouldn't implicate him of thievery. Why the princess didn't speak up and call him out was beyond his comprehension. "I wanted to go out so, uh, heh," he struggled. To his dismay, he felt ice bubble up under his skin, freezing his insides and leaving him cold. He picked up his glass and chugged the water, but to his dismay, it began to bubble unnaturally as he tried to drink. He could feel the cup freezing under his palm and put it back down on the table. 'Hide it, quick!' he thought. He felt the sweat on his brow freeze and he grimaced. 'Don't let them see it,' he struggled.

Out of nowhere, he heard a voice: "_Love will thaw a frozen…_"

"Nicholas now!" his great-grandmother snapped before the voice had a chance to finish. He looked down. The ice was gone, all of it, in the blink of an eye.

"I was looking for a source!" he fibbed. Looking for a source never involved nobles, particularly not queens. His great-grandmother reclined into her chair and released the breath he had been holding.

"That wasn't too challenging for you, now was it?" she quipped. He stared at his empty plate, not feeling at all hungry anymore. He shook his head. "Did you find one then?" He started ahead and her eyes narrowed. "Egil," she said. Under the table, her dog sprinted forward and wrapped its jaws around the boy's calf. He felt the rows of sharp canines dig into his leg and jumped up with a shout. He hit both knees on the table and lurched to the side. He landed on the ground then sat up, dazed.

Seven spiraling petals of frozen waves spread out from his chair. He was as good as dead now.

"Disgraceful," Nanna said. Nils looked up to see every face scowling down at him. "In a matter of _days_ you managed to break my cardinal rule. You took another's powers for yourself, something I thought you would never be able to do. Somehow you managed. Of course it was you," she seethed. He searched his family members' faces for traces of sympathy but was only met with unadulterated loathing. "Wait in the Grotto until I decide how to dispose of you." And with that dismissal, she lost all interest in him.

He hung his head and turned to leave. Just as he stepped into the cool night air, he heard Nanna's final words. "I should have known that you would follow the footsteps of your father." He choked and hurried into the night, leaving petals of frost in his wake.

* * *

Chapter five word count: 3,275 words

A/N: If you didn't figure it out already, there's a _ton _of new characters to take in in this chapter, and not all of them get much time to show off what's they've got! Rest assured, anyone who doesn't have much time to shine in this chapter will be accounted for in the next one. Or four. ... Planning is hard sometimes, don't judge.

A huge shoutout to Fantabulous Fantabulism, my top reviewer and new amigo! If you haven't already, check out his story, _The Ice Within_! It's pretty rad and I personally _love _it._  
_

I guess I should sign off with something catchy... What consequences will Nils suffer for breaking the rules? What will this family say when they find out about Anna's royal status? What powers do Nils' family members have? Will Kristoff ever get any good lines? Is WhatNames ever going to learn how to manage time properly? (That's a no.) Are Elsa and Pyry both dead at this point? Why did the author decide to dump every character ever on top of us when she knew that she should have spaced that out some? And also, does Anna actually know what's going on or is she just waiting until she has dessert to freak out? Some of these questions and more are answered, next week, on Muted Magic~


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